The present invention concerns software tools which facilitate the analysis of the behavior of libraries accessed by an application through an application programming interface (API), for instance a three dimensional (3D) graphics library, and pertains particularly to a tool that utilizes color coded graphical representations of API events organized within a dynamic framework having a particular set of characteristics.
Analyzing the behavior of a sequential process, such as a software library, is difficult. Many approaches have been taken to solve the problems inherent in such analysis. For example, in the hardware domain, logic analyzers which are used to instrument nodes and which treat logic transitions as "events".
Utilizing a 3D graphics library to develop a high performance 3D graphics application can be an extremely complex task. In order to achieve optimal performance of the graphics application, it is often required that a developer have an intimate knowledge of the graphics library which underlies the graphics application and into which the graphics application makes calls. Various tools have been developed in order to help developers effectively utilize graphics libraries.
For example, Silicon Graphics Inc., has made available a number of graphics performance analysis tools. These include, for example, the glprof analysis tool, the gldebug analysis tool, the ogldebug analysis tool, and Iris Performer tools. Using the glprof analysis tool it is possible to capture the IRIS GL application programming interface (API) calls used to generate a single image into a trace. IRIS GL graphics library is a 3D graphics library available from Silicon Graphics, Inc. The generated traces are stored in trace files. The traces may be replayed to re-render the graphics image. Also, different graphics configurations can be simulated to predict the utilization of the different stages of the graphics pipeline when replaying the trace for these different configurations. Additionally, a limited set of rendering options can be overridden from the glprof analysis tool so that calls made in a captured trace can be ignored. The captured traces can also be replayed and timed to determine the maximum performance possible for the trace.
The gldebug analysis tool monitors IRIS GL API calls made by a graphics application. From these monitored calls, visual and textual representations of the current graphics state is shown. Also, using the gldebug analysis tool, API calls made by the graphics application can be saved in a C formatted file. Additionally, breakpoints can be set on API calls. If an appropriate debugger is active, the application source code will be shown for the breakpoint. Further, the gldebug analysis tool allows a user to select API calls to skip.
The ogldebug analysis tool operates similar to the gldebug analysis tool, but is used for the OpenGL API. OpenGL graphics library is a 3D graphics library product available from Silicon Graphics, Inc. Using the ogldebug analysis tool, API calls made by the graphics application are monitored. Textual representation of the current graphics state can be shown. Additionally, performance hints can be generated and information about graphics display lists can be generated.
For Iris Performer tools, also available from Silicon Graphics, Inc., instrumentation is built into the Iris Performer toolkit. This allows for the generation of numerous graphs and statistics. When using the Iris Performer tools, information is displayed in real time. No trace files are generated. Additionally, a user can change the color of specific primitives to highlight the screen size and locations of these primitives in the rendered image. In general, a primitive is a call into a graphics library which results in a particular shape being drawn on a display.